Down by the River by Robyn Carr

steadies in high school, with Nancy her constant rival. When June went away to college, Chris and Nancy ran off and got married, an event that, when she thought about it, could still take her completely by surprise. He had been writing herlove notes at college while screwing around with Nancy in Grace Valley! Even in love with another man and pregnant with his child, it could piss her off all over again if she thought about it much. But she didn’t act angry. At least she didn’t think she did.
    In the almost twenty years since they’d run away together, Chris and Nancy had lived in southern California. It was only a few months ago that Chris and the boys had returned to Grace Valley, and it was only two months ago that June had learned that Chris was not divorced, as he had claimed, but only separated from Nancy. And the separation had been Nancy’s idea. Brad and Brent were such a handful of trouble and Chris such an oblivious parent, that Nancy thought maybe he should be the one to take over. So Chris had come home. Like any red-blooded American man, he thought his mother would probably help.
    Obviously, it hadn’t gone well. The kids had been in constant trouble around town, culminating in their theft of Grandma Birdie’s car, which they plunged off the road into a ravine.
    What had started as a domestic problem, marital and familial, had escalated into a crisis. They were in the fixer-upper Chris had bought before the accident. No doubt it had been a good idea at the time. Before the accident there had been time to make slow but steady improvements on the house even with his job, but there certainly couldn’t be much time now. Nancy had left her San Diego jobto rush to her boys’ sides; their income was probably at an all-time low, while stress was at an all-time high.
    As promised, June retrieved the casserole and cake from Birdie and drove out to Chris’s house in the country. It was situated on a nice piece of land on the rise of a knoll with a long driveway up from the road. Prime property. The house, however, had been falling apart long before Chris bought it. Only the most basic improvements had been made—plumbing and electrical, thank God—when Brad and Brent had been hospitalized.
    As June raised her hand to knock on the front door, she heard one of the twins hollering, “I want my pain pill!” while another yelled, “Ma-a-a-a!” Though she wanted to flee from the chaos inside, she knocked. Nancy yanked open the door, an impatient frown on her face. She blew an errant lock of hair off her face.
    June could see a lot from the doorway. The floors were bare, there were rooms without doors, the bathroom at the end of the hall had only a curtain to offer for privacy, some windows were boarded, the kitchen cupboards had been torn from the walls and were in the midst of being refinished, ancient appliances were in use, probably until the new kitchen could be finished, and electric bulbs dangled from the ceilings in place of fixtures. In the middle of the living room stood two overpowering hospital beds, complete with traction rigging and tray tables.
    “Good Lord,” June said as she looked past Nancy into the house.
    “If your children are going to have a car accident and be laid up for a while, it isn’t practical to have just bought a fixer-upper,” Nancy said. “Not exactly Better Homes and Gardens. ”
    “My house was a lot like this,” June said. “It took me forever to get it in shape.” June noted the dark circles under Nancy’s eyes. “One thing at a time,” she advised, giving her the casserole dish as she balanced the cake in her left hand.
    “June. How lovely of you.”
    “I wish it had been lovely of me, but Birdie made these. And I am totally ashamed. I should have been out here a couple of weeks ago. Not to mention giving you a hand with meals and chores.”
    “I hear you have quite a lot on your mind, too.”
    June’s hand went immediately to her middle. “But you should